LARS VON TRIER - VON TRIER FILM AROUSES ANGER, ADMIRATION AT CANNES

VON TRIER FILM AROUSES ANGER, ADMIRATION AT CANNES

Danish director Lars von Trier has created a storm of controversy at Cannes over his latest film, Antichrist, a horror film that is competing at this year's festival and was screened on Monday. (It was greeted with derisive laughs and boos at a press screening.) Jonathan Romney in Britain's Screen Daily wondered "why a director this sophisticated would want to put his audience through the mill quite so crudely." And Todd McCarthy in Daily Variety appeared to respond in kind to the film's tone by commenting, "Lars von Trier cuts a big, fat art-film fart with Antichrist." And, in arguably his oddest review ever, appearing in today's (Tuesday) Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert, who has returned to Cannes after being sidelined for years by his battle with cancer, called Antichrist the equivalent to a "fork in the eye," and concluded "Do I believe his film 'works?' Would I 'recommend' it? Is it a 'good' film? I believe von Trier doesn't care how I or anyone else would reply to those questions. He had the ideas and feelings, he saw into the pit, he made the film, and here it is."

19/05/2009